Car camping is one of the cheapest and fastest ways to travel. When I say car camping, I don’t mean parking your car at a campsite and pitching a tent, I mean LITERALLY camping and sleeping in your car.
Recently my husband and I took an overnight trip to the Kern River. We wanted to make the drive out that way, but weren’t really in the mood to pack the tent and everything else that went along with tent camping. So we thought of the idea of sleeping in our car. We’ve never done this before given the fact that we drive a small 4-door Hyundai hatchback, but we’re pretty small ourselves so we figured we’d give it a try.
This type of camping isn’t new by any means, in fact it’s very popular for many outdoor enthusiasts and travelers. It’s just one small step before diving in to “van life.” It’s also a great alternative if you’re tight on cash and don’t want to spend money on reserving a campsite.
Now as far as location goes, “home is where you park it”… kind of. Make sure you have the proper permits, or that the place you’re going to allows overnight parking and camping. We had a few cars neighboring us, so for privacy we got to use these window cutouts my husband made from black craft paper, and it fit perfectly along the sills.
This wasn’t our first rodeo as far as camping goes, so our packing list wasn’t too far off from the norm. We only stayed for one night so it was fairly simple.
The dinner menu was easy, tacos. We brought a small foldable table to place our Coleman propane grill on, and had our cooler packed with the necessities, alcoholic drinks included ;). Fire permits were required to cook on a propane grill where we were located, so we made sure to have that. If you ever need a fire permit visit https://www.readyforwildfire.org/permits/ and follow all the safety precautions that come along with having a fire.
For our bed, we slept on the front seats of the car (we tested this out at home before making the drive, just to make sure is was comfortable for us both.) We packed our backpacking sleeping bags, mines rated at 27°, but I still packed a small blanket along just in case, thank goodness I did because it dropped to below freezing and we woke up with ice all over the car! I also brought a regular pillow to sleep on.
Now for light source. I brought along my Luci Pro Outdoor 2.0 Inflatable Solar Lantern + Charger https://www.rei.com/product/126408/mpowerd-luci-pro-outdoor-20-inflatable-solar-lantern-charger. I made sure it was fully charged so we didn’t have to use the lights in the car and run the battery dry. We made sure all the electronics were charged, but we always bring a backup charger just in case.
When nightfall came we made our way inside the car, and I was locked and loaded with snacks and a few Netflix movies downloaded on my iPad. I normally don’t do this, if ever, but I figured this time was a little different. And with the sun setting early we would be stuck in the car for a long while, so Netflix and chill was on the agenda.
Luckily where we decided to park the car there were a few port-a-potties in the area, so going to the bathroom wasn’t an issue either.
And the following morning we had pastries for breakfast along with coffee. Simple and easy.
Overall our first time car camping I’d say was a huge success. A few things I’d probably change up for the next time.
- Crack the windows. We woke up with so much condensation in the car, which made cleanup the morning after a huge hassle.
- We plan on eliminating the kitchen setup altogether to make space in the trunk. Mountain house meals are probably going to be on the menu next time.
- More beer, lol. Especially during the winter and spring months. The sun sets earlier those days, and when you’re stuck inside a car most of the night, it’s best to just be prepared.
** Read my Kernville blog HERE —> https://holdthewild.com/?p=54**
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